The last lingering embers of afternoon sun sank beneath the jagged, icy teeth of the western peaks, bleeding a soft gradient of plum, mauve, and cold sapphire across the mountain sky. Twilight descended upon the river basin like a velvet curtain, still and profound. Outside, the winter air bit with sharp, crystalline severity, freezing the snow crust into an unbroken shell of white that sparkled beneath the first emerging evening stars.
Inside the main hall, the cold could not cross the threshold. The solid granite perimeter walls, backed by thick timber framing and flawless lime plaster, held the interior in a cocoon of radiant heat. The hearth burned with a quiet, steady thrum, its bed of aged oak embers glowing like molten gold against the dark river slate.
I stood beside the broad fr
